Rating: Summary: I figured it out Review: I think some of the people on this list liked this movie because...oooh, it was sooo deep and thoughtful and they're patting themselves on the back for feeling intellectual for liking this film. I mean, just look at all the people on the list deriding those who didn't like this film as being "dumb" or "too stupid to get it." It's obvious to me that they feel like they're now some part of an exclusive club. This movie is a tremendous joke and waste of time.
Rating: Summary: Deliciously Powerful - An Absolute Masterpiece ! Review: To borrow from one the many great lines in this brilliant work, "How can one reviewer make a difference amongst all this madness?" The madness I am referring to is the negative comments/reviews of this film.I cannot believe all the meatheads who found the film boring, too long etc. The general American movie-going public is truly pathetic! Give these lazy, mush minds some more Bruce Willis and Swartzennager and their happy - give them a truly wonderful film that challenges the mind and provokes intense thought and feeling about life, death, love, and the human condition and they will rip it apart! I take some comfort (by all the other five star posters) that there are still intelligent people left out there! Simply put, this was undoubtedly the best war movie ever made and one of the top five movies of all time!
Rating: Summary: Finest American film of the decade, better with each viewing Review: I encourage people to rent or purchase the widescreen edition of this video (or the DVD to be released in November), especially if a big-screen television is available. If you have pro-logic (or DVD surround sound) the brilliance of the sound editing will amaze you. Coupled with the technically unsurpassed cinematography of John Toll (and the director's eye for the camera which is part of Malick's genius), the scenes of battle are superior to any I've seen, ever. This is not a war film. It is a film in a war setting in which ordinary, frail, callous and caring human beings wither and die, grow and triumph in the grip of a hopelessly incomprehensible circumstance -- warfare. Eschewing easy answers, the film poses important questions and assumes that you and I are capable of responding with intelligence, insight and compassion. Hans Zimmer's sound track truly weaves together the various elements of this epic film, and its elegiac, haunting poetry linger in the mind and heart long after the film is over. Nick Nolte, John Cusack, Sean Penn and James Caviezel in particular give outstanding interpretations of complex characters, and do credit to the wondrous characterizations in James Jones' related novels (From Here to Eternity and The Thin Red Line). For those concerned that Malick may have been overly cerebral in making this film, turn to those sources and realize that this film is the product of two astoundingly creative minds in synchrony. Yes, soldiers actually DO think, wonder, contemplate, change during the impossible chaos, heroics and degradation of warfare, and so we see and feel this happen to those we see and hear -- fleetingly or lengthily -- in this film. Read Stephen King, certainly, for sheer entertainment -- I do. But save time for Faulkner, Dostoyevsky, Garcia-Marquez -- those whose creations further the culture and give expression to our deepest travail and highest aspirations. Watch "Saving Private Ryan", certainly, to be entertained (and reassured by the illusion that the Americans are always good, the enemy always bad) and to feel good. But also take the time to experience the finest cinematic art and all it can offer as an expression and validation of our humanness. This film has no equal among American films of the decade. DGH
Rating: Summary: Disappointing - Too much fluff and retrospection. Review: I was very disappointed in this film. I expected something akin to Saving Private Ryan and got "I'm a broken-hearted deserter with a flawed conscience". Too much emphasis on the "kinder, gentler side of combat soldiers" versus the real courage, anguish, and horror of war. Too sensitive to classify as a war movie and not enough focus on real soldiers. From my experienced point view, the combat scenes were overplayed, unrealistic, and totally overshadowed by Hollywood's poor attempt at collective left-wing conscience. Regret I spend the money to see it.
Rating: Summary: True to war Review: Although the card carrying mensa-ite and the holier than thou visionaries disagree greatly about the movie, one fact is clear. It has been said that war is 99% boredom and 1% terror. Perhaps the director sought to provide just such a balance. The juxtaposition of poetic musings against this boredom, while interesting, really doesn't make for much of a movie experience. I can do without the 30 minute setpiece of Ryan, but the attempt to have us simultaneously attain the suspension of disbelief AND care about ANY of the characters fails on both counts. But that doesn't mean that I'm a bad (or stupid, or insensitive) person! J. Hunter
Rating: Summary: DREADFUL Review: After all the the hype about this being a "thinking" mans picture, I was amazed at how dull flatles, and enexciting it was. It's filled with cliches about the uinfairness and meaningless of war, and suggests that war is horrrible (big surprise). All this dim store philosophy is provided by a droning overvoice.. There is also the usual bit about a mean and heartless officer, of course, with Nick Nolte shouting enough to alert the enemy. Sean penn,nott known for well potraying soldiers inbatt, shows mis meaness by rollong his eyes and saying thing like, "Get up or I'll kick you in the guts." The music score consists of a kind mournful droning on an d on. verything attepted in this one is far surpassed Private Ryan. The acting, the dialogue, the characerts of the players, eeeeeven the battle sequences (alth ugh some were ood in Thin Red line. Another exellent pictre, perpahs even on par is the HBO production "When Trumpets Fade" (It's on DVD)
Rating: Summary: See this if you're reading eastern philosophy Review: Witt finds the still centre in the worst of all possible worlds. Around him others suffer from their own emotional reactions. The ending is as uplifting as any in film history...we know that at least one of the people around Witt gained clarity from knowing him.
Rating: Summary: Too loooooooonnnnnnnnnngggggggg Review: I don't know how some of you people liked this movie. It was toooooooo long. Fairly boring. Some parts were good, but overall the movie wasn't that great. "Saving Private Ryan" is a much better movie. I wouldn't recommend buying this movie. You should rent it instead and make sure you have a good 3 hours to be bored out of your mind.
Rating: Summary: THIS IS A TOP NOTCH MOVIE Review: THE SOUND EFFECTS AND SCENERY ALONE MAKE THIS MOVIE WORTH WATCHING. PLUS THE ADDED BOUNUS OF WAR TIME INSANITY MAKES THIS AN OUTSTANDING M0VIE.
Rating: Summary: A classic for those who care about film Review: Not a 'Hollywood' film, a poetic meditation on men in war delivered in vividly beautiful imagery. Only topped by 'Eyes Wide Shut' as possibly the best film of the decade. Sublime.
|